Although both cellular phones and vehicle telematics devices can use the same radio frequency spectrum for communications, there are numerous differences in how such devices are used. For example, telematics units, while sometimes used for interpersonal communications, are also frequently employed to obtain navigational assistance and other services that require receiving a call from a call center operator. Users often initiate such calls, but there are numerous occasions when the operator is required to initiate a call to the telematics unit.
For example, during interactions involving telematic operator transaction processing, the telematic operator may place an outbound call via a modem to the telematic device using a mobile dialing number (MDN) that the operator has recorded for the device. However, if the intended vehicle MDN dialed by the telematic operator has been recycled by the wireless provider to a handset subscriber, the telematic operator transaction system cannot distinguish between the vehicle response and a handset response.
In such cases, a handset subscriber receives an unwanted call, and the process that the telematic operator intended to execute does not occur. Such mistaken calls can generate consumer dissatisfaction that only becomes known to the telematic operator when the modem call to the mistaken MDN is alleged by the handset owner as an unwanted call. However, this situation is difficult to avoid since the wireless carrier may be prohibited from providing a third-party (i.e., the telematic operator) with stored values not related to an account of record whereby the MDN is assigned to a handset subscriber.
Currently, there is no system available for a telematic operator to determine at the time of the outbound call if a targeted MDN value stored relative to the device has been recycled by the wireless carrier to a handset subscriber. Thus, the primary identification of a mistaken MDN condition occurs only after a consumer complaint is lodged by the consumer who is the recipient of the call made by the telematic operator to the affected MDN. Notification of the mistaken MDN sometimes also occurs when a business transaction involving both the wireless carrier and telematic operator shows the MDN value to have been reassigned without the knowledge of the telematic operator.
However, for many if not most situations, the mistaken MDN will have already resulted in customer dissatisfaction by the time it is discovered. Thus, a system and method are needed for enabling a telematic operator to recognize an MDN that has been reassigned from a telematics unit to a handset subscriber.